


On The Train Ride Home

by RedDevil6



Category: Supergirl (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Happy Ending, Mild Angst, Strangers to Lovers, Subway AU, i suck at oneshots, sort of a drabble?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 13:31:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17788313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedDevil6/pseuds/RedDevil6
Summary: Lena Luthor had decided early on that people tend to avoid you if you're blasting loud music and not looking their way. it discourages most people from striking up conversations. So, every night, she connects her immersion headphones and blasts her favorite Gothic metal playlist while reading her book of the week while on the subway home (much to her mother's disapproval and Lena's delight).Kara Danvers is a up and coming journalist sent on an internship to the Daily Planet with Lois Lane (really it's just a front so she can shadow her cousin. he insisted on her doing this before she decided to take on the mantle and don the cape). it was a miracle Cat Grant had even agreed to this in the first place. so the cardigan toting blonde finds herself on the subway every night after work on her way home.it's loud and lonely until Kara lays eyes on a certain goth sitting across from her.One day Lena comes onto the train with her bag and a book and sits opposite Kara. it takes the blonde a second but finally she realizes what's missing.Kara asks "no headphones today?"title from the song On the train ride home by the paper kites





	On The Train Ride Home

 

It was early June in Metropolis and Kara was on her way back from her first day as an investigative journalism intern at Metropolis’ Daily Planet under none other than Lois Lane. She never thought she'd be here, when she first landed on earth a mere eight years ago. But then again, she envisioned her life to be totally different the day she left krypton.

It was a quaint ride on the subway, at this time of night there were very few passengers aside from the man dozing in the middle rows and what appeared to be an exhausted nurse sitting toward the front. When the train came to a stop and the doors near her hissed open, no one made to get off; but a singular dark figure stepped off the platform and took a seat opposite Kara.

The woman wore all black, with dark messy make up and black lipstick, a black lightning bolt drawn across her cheek. Her raven hair cascading down her shoulders and framing her pallid face. Kara was struck by the vast contrast between the woman's complexion and her bold aesthetic but found it quite appealing nonetheless.

The woman now sat across from Kara had her head bent down, reading intently whilst loud music blasted through her immersion headphones. Kara doubted anyone else could hear the song that was playing but her super sensitive hearing picked up on the words that seemed much louder than they actually were.

Kara sat there watching the woman so engrossed in her book that she nearly missed her stop. Whilst the Goth hurried to gather her bag and book, trying to get off the train before it set off again, a smile graced the blonde's lips. The dark haired woman made it off the train just in time for the doors to close again and for them to continue on their ride home. Or what Kara would be calling home for the next few months.

Kara had assumed she would never see the gorgeous woman ever again. It was with that assumption that she got onto the train the next night to find her sitting at the far end of the train cabin right across from Kara’s usual seat. The Gothic beauty had her immersion headphones around her ears and her gaze intently focused on the book in her lap. A book which Kara could now see was titled “the Romanovs: the final chapter”. It was an odd choice of book considering the woman’s appearance.

Kara internally scolded herself for falling prey to society’s bad stereotyping habit but sometimes she just couldn’t help it. She sat across from the woman debating whether she should disturb her or not but eventually decided against it. Yet, Kara’s curiosity got the better of her and she lent an eavesdropping ear to the lyrics pumping through the headphones. The voice was mesmerizing, like the whisper of sirens in Kara’s ears though it was the words that made her listen closely.

_Just tell me why_  
Just tell me how  
I can survive this time

Kara wasn’t used to this kind of music, with the loud guitar riffs and prominent drums. When she got to earth, her senses were much too acute to tolerate Alex’s kind of rock like the barenaked ladies. She remembers when her sister was obsessively playing _one little slip_ on repeat. It drove Kara up the wall. Now, years later she found herself drawn inexplicably to a genre of songs that was much different than her usual boy bands. The melodic voice of the singer continued to permeate into her mind.

_Believe yourself and look away_  
From all that's right within you  
Leave all your worries at the door and drift away,  
I’ve tried to peer into the core  
But could not storm the sorrow  
My hollow heart has bled me dry, left me to stray

The train screeched to a halt and the woman across from Kara disembarked once again, leaving Kara alone.

This same thing happened every day for ten days, at some point Kara thought she was stuck in some weird Groundhog Day loop. The Goth girl would get on the train and sit in her usual seat across from Kara and read while blasting music. More and more songs cycled through the girl’s headphones and slowly yet surely Kara found herself tuning into the music more and more. She came to realize that the girl listened to a sub-genre of metal; specifically, Gothic metal.

Bit by bit Kara got into the genre as well. It wasn’t like she was hoping to impress Goth girl, the music was just…catchy.

So she started small, bands that were really popular like Evanescence, Nightwish and within temptation. Epica featured heavily in between Kara’s classes and Lacuna Coil kept her going through writing long assignments and Sirenia helped her through sleepless nights.

The next time Kara saw Goth girl after a long weekend, something seemed amiss. She was still decked out in all black, ripped fishnets and bulky boots and bold black eyeliner. The girl had a new book, something about Russian royalty still. It took Kara a minute of staring, but she finally figured out what was missing.

“No headphones today?”

Goth girl looked up, a frown pulling at her brows. She pointed at herself confused. It seemed to Kara that the girl wasn’t sure if she was the subject of the observation or not.

“Me?”

Kara blushed and nodded, a shy smile peeking at the passenger across from her.

“it’s just that, you’ve been sitting across from me with your book and headphones for a while now and you never seem to look up or anything and it’s like you’re in your own little world and you’re really really pretty and your music is really loud and then you get off at your stop and it’s like you were never even there and I’m rambling; I should really stop rambling but I can’t help it, I’ve honestly been trying to find a way to get your attention for days now and now you probably think I’m creepy or stalker-ish” Kara’s word vomit had prompted an endeared yet confused smile which wasn’t very encouraging to the blonde.

“I’m just gonna shut up now, sorry to bother you” Silence stretched for a while, the only noise in the train cabin was the grinding of the wheels against the rails and the jostle of the cars.

“So, you think I’m pretty?”

A disbelieving laugh ripped itself from Kara’s throat “that’s…that’s all you got from my rant? It’s honestly all that matters really” the blonde giggled awkwardly.

“Yeah sort of, you’re cute when you ramble” the Goth girl smirked “the blush really suits you” At this rate, Kara thought she’d turn as crimson as her cousin’s cape.

“I’m Lena” Goth girl held out her hand and Kara stared blankly at the outstretched limb only for Goth girl, Lena as Kara now knew, raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

The train jerked to a stop and Goth−Lena gathered her stuff to leave with a final wink at Kara “see you tomorrow stranger”

“Kara! My name’s Kara”

“See you tomorrow Kara”

And with that Lena was off the train and into the crowd. Kara slumped back into her seat with a grunt “idiot” the blonde berates herself but resigns to an awkward ride tomorrow.

By the time Kara gets on the subway the next day, she’s thoroughly exhausted. Trying to keep up with both Kal **_and_** Lois is sounding more and more like an unbeatable task. Between following Lois on interviews then down dark alleyways chasing leads, and dashing off to watch from afar never able to help as superman dealt with the threat of the hour, the back and forth almost felt like a game of headless chicken.

The minute she was able to clock out from the planet and Kal let her know they were done for the day, she felt dead on her feet. Quite the achievement for a kryptonian. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, she was focusing on the rhythmic grinds and screeches of the train lulling her senses when the brakes loosening and mechanical jolt of the train accelerating snapped her out of her daze. Kara startled awake to find Lena sitting across from her again. She must have dozed off for a few minutes; rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands seemed to alieve some of the drowsiness that had settled into her brain.

It took a second for her eyes to focus, only to widen comically when her azure gaze landed on a pair of greens that reminded her of liquid kryptonite.

“Hi, Lena!” Kara breathed, the brunette looking as decadent as ever. Skin tight ripped leather leggings with lace underlay, matched to a form fitting top with floral patterned lace sleeves and studded block heeled boots to finish up the outfit. Kara had to consciously try not to gawk at the girl across from her but the outfit did nothing good for Kara’s awkwardness.

_How was anyone this attractive, honestly?_

“Hi Kara, you’re able to reply today, that’s an improvement” the brunette smirked but for some reason it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“I’m sorry about yesterday, I didn’t mean to come off so…”

“Weird and stalker-ish?” Lena provided with a chuckle

“Yeah, that…it’s actually” Kara fiddled with her gasses nervously “it’s just that you play your music a little loudly through your headphones and you’ve been sitting across from me for two weeks now” the blonde scratches the back of her neck. Lena’s eyes had been set on her for over thirty seconds now and their piercing gaze is like a plasma torch cutting right through her concentration.

“and…?” Lena inquires, now just a little intrigued with the point the adorable blonde is trying to make but also mostly enjoying how flustered the girl becomes whenever she tries to speak.

“I’m not into metal usually, but you’ve played a few songs that I liked over the past couple of days so I started researching”

“Is that so? Tell me Kara, which song did you like the most?”

Kara took hold of her glasses and pushed them up the bridge of her nose, a nervous tick that Lena notice, but a tick that brought into focus a pair of gorgeous azure eyes that could shame the oceans and the skies.

“well I had mostly lyrics to go by so I had to cycle through a few covers but R.E.M’s losing my religion really stuck with me, though I liked Lacuna Coil’s cover of the song better” Lena nodded thoughtfully, the song was one of her all-time favorites and she was glad someone else preferred it to the original, yet her Luthor upbringing sparked intense paranoia in her.

“It’s a really good song, what else did you listen to?” she leaned forward and braced her elbows onto her knees. Seeing this as a sign of interest, Kara began listing the bands she had stumbled onto throughout her research and was surprised to see Lena chuckle lightly. By the time Lena’s stop arrives, she’s less suspicious of the blonde and more entertained by their effortless banter.

It becomes a routine for them, they struggle and drag through the day and once they’re in the confines of their semi-empty train cabin they talk about everything under the moon and stars, and sometimes above and beyond.

The days start to fly by, they become closer. The highlight of their respective days becomes the ride home, Lena opts for wireless Bluetooth earphones so she can listen with Kara. Song recommendations and playlists are exchanged and stories are traded until the day it happens.

The attack on downtown metropolis is the most heinous thing Kara has seen since krypton. The blood and destruction…

The Martian Manhunter swoops in and restrains her, pulls her away from the fight. She sits in a cell somewhere in the desert watching as Lex Luthor gets brought down and Kal stand in a superman sized crater all bloodied as they take the madman away kicking and screaming. There were only two thoughts fighting for supremacy in her mind; one, she had to help Kal one way or another. And two, she needed to speak with Lena. Sure at first Kara didn’t realize who the Goth girl was but a few weeks after they met, Lena had come clean and Kara trusted her the more for it.

It was the day after the attack, metropolis had begun to pick itself up and dust off the rubble. Kara was finally able to speak with Kal-El and was relieved to know he was okay. Or as okay as one can be after such a thing. It was a harrowing day, following Lois around while she tried to piece together what transpired. Early that morning she got a call from Cat Grant herself. Shadow Lois she said, write up the story and have it emailed to her by noon she said. Kara just wanted this day to be over, she just wanted to sit next to Lena and get lost for a while.

She got onto the train on her stop and sat in her seat, Lena’s playlist began playing through her earphones and within the hour they were pulling up at Lena’s stop. The doors opened and closed but no one made to get onto the train. Kara waited for a second more but the train jolted forward and was on its way to the next stop with no Lena Luthor in sight. Kara considered that maybe her friend had missed her stop or was still at work for the day? Or maybe she was just dealing with the aftermath of the fallout.

The blonde was definitely sad that her friend wouldn’t make it to their daily rendezvous but she understood that it was a rough time for her, given her brother’s actions the day before. Kara sighed and shrunk into her seat trying to pass the time.

The next day wasn’t much better. It was still very hectic in the bullpen at the daily planet as the details of the city-wide scheme Lex Luthor set in motion began to unfold. Dozens of people dead and hundreds injured. The hospitals were overflowing and the city’s emergency personnel were overwhelmed even with superman flitting back and forth between rescue and support.

It was with a heavy heart that Kara boarded her train. She wasn’t expecting Lena to show up, but she still hoped the Goth girl would. The blonde texted repeatedly yesterday but didn’t get much of a reply. Lena must be overwhelmed right now and even if Kara had the best intentions at heart she was still a journalist and knew how ruthless her colleagues would be right now. So the blonde resolved to give Lena space.

Kara was sat in her customary place, with her eyes closed, trying to filter out the noises. The subway was a little more crowded than usual. People trying to bypass the traffic a ruined downtown metropolis caused. Kara had never felt so lonely, surrounded by so many people, she missed having Lena with her. It had only been a couple of days but Lena’s absence was like a gaping void.

Kara had nearly succeeded in dulling the noise until a very familiar heartbeat caught her attention. It was the rhythmic beating of Lena’s heart; steady and calming and most importantly _there._

The blonde glanced up and around the cart but couldn’t spot the woman she’d come to miss nearly as much as she missed her sister Alex.  It took her a moment, she listened closely and tried to pinpoint where the woman was. Across from her, at the very far end of the cart, sat a woman dressed in a sleek black Versace suit, silk white blouse and the most ridiculously high black suede platform stilettos Kara had ever seen. Kara wouldn’t have recognized her if it wasn’t for the very familiar heartbeat.

“Lena?” Kara calls out, hoping to whatever god was listening that she was right.

“Kara, hi. I was trying to um, work up the courage to speak to you”

“Oh how the tables have turned” the blonde chuckled lightly “how are you feeling? With everything that’s going on?”

Lena smiled sadly, looking away from the blonde “listen Kara, I have absolutely adored the last couple of months with you but…things are going to change. This is probably the last time I’ll see you, so I wanted to say this before it was too late…”

Lena seemed to hesitate, the furrow lines between her eyebrows deepening further, Kara had the urge to use her thumbs to smooth them out.

“If this is about the Lex thing…” Kara whispered “you know that I don’t care who your family is or what they’ve done, all I care about is you”

“And that’s exactly why this is so hard for me Kara, you have to understand…” Lena’s voice was low and gravelly, she sighed once as the train slowed to a stop and looked up through her lashes

“I hope one day you’ll forgive me for this Kara, you’re an amazing friend, truly otherworldly and I never really deserved you” the brunette leaned in and agonizingly slow, brushed her scarlet lips against Kara’s.

The blonde’s eyes fluttered closed for a nanosecond, that’s all it took for Lena to step away and slip through the closing train doors and out into the hustle and bustle of rushing bodies. Kara was a little stunned, and by the time she managed to get her limbs moving the train was already on its way to the next stop and Lena was lost in the crowd.

Kara avoided the subway for the remainder of her stay which turned out to be short-lived. The day after Lex’s trial was over, she got a call from Snapper Carr saying she’d been reassigned to the tribune and that she had to get her ass back to National City ASAP. And that was that.

 

Time slipped by in a haze. Chasing leads and writing puff pieces on the cutest red pandas you’ve ever seen, it all felt so…bleak.  
Kara didn’t think any excitement would come her way any time soon, so she took the night off and decided to grab some food at Noonan’s. She hadn’t been there since before her trip to metropolis. Alex was on a trip to Geneva, her plane was just barely out of the gate by Kara’s estimate.

The blonde nibbled on her sandwich slowly. A glance up at the news report playing behind the bar nearly sent her into a panic attack. A plane was falling from the sky, Alex’s plane. And so for the first time since she was a kid, Kara took flight as fast as she could to save her sister.

She’d been dubbed supergirl much to Kara’s annoyance but with time she came to like the title bestowed upon her by Miss Grant. Snapper was as harsh as ever, almost firing her every other week, only assigning her the fluff pieces and trivial media profiles on local zoos. You had to earn your stripes. It all felt like a step back from before, when she was elbows deep in Lex Luthor’s trial details but she knew she had to prove herself worthy like Lois and Cat and even Clark (even though he only ever wrote about his alter-ego’s accomplishments).

She was walking back to Catco from a nearby animal shelter’s adoption day event when the magazines on a newsstand caught her eye. That was Lena! Her Lena! On the cover of a rival magazine? A cursory glance at the cover told Kara all she needed to know.

It’s been over six months since Lena left her stunned in the subway. Six months of radio silence. Six months of Kara agonizing over her feelings and what they could mean for her. And now Lena was here? In National City?  Sirens in the distance told her it wasn’t time to dwell on the past, with a quick scan to her surrounding, she slipped into a nearby alley and off she went.

 

She couldn’t quite grasp the idea. Lena was in National City, and she’d never even reached out to Kara. Later that night she was sitting with Alex watching one day at a time but her mind was a thousand miles away. She stared blankly at the screen, Schneider’s antics barely registering with her so Alex decided to prod.

“What’s gotten into you Kara? You haven’t even laughed once tonight, or even touched your food!”

“I’m sorry Alex it’s just, I’ve got a lot on my mind”

“Wanna tell me so I can help?”

Kara huffed “it’s Lena, she’s here in National City and she hasn’t even tried to reach out”

“Yeah I heard LuthorCorp was opening up headquarters here, some sort of fresh start with a new CEO”

“And you didn’t think to tell me this?!” Kara was surprised that even Alex knew and she didn’t. How had she missed this? “You know what, it doesn’t matter, let’s just watch the show”

The conversation was shelved for a while, but it never really left Kara’s mind. Thinking about Lena Luthor had a domino effect. How was Lena doing? Was she here for good or will she be leaving when the branch opens? Why hadn’t she tried to contact Kara?  
It was all a big massive recipe for a headache but Kara couldn’t let it go.

The first assassination attempt came with the launching of the Venture, it had Lex’s signature all over it but they couldn’t readily prove that. Kara couldn’t give a valid excuse on why she _shouldn’t_ so Snapper insisted she go and get a quote from the Luthor heiress.

It was awkward to say the least, the moment their eyes met across the reception desk. Lena’s secretary Jess seemed wary letting a journalist so close to her boss but Lena was adamant to get it over with.

“Kara…you’re here”

“Yes Miss Luthor, I’m a reporter with Catco media? We have a scheduled interview today in regards to the Venture?”

“Ah, yes, there’s a perfectly good reason why I wasn’t aboard the venture”

The interview was tense to say the least, Lena keeping it rather professional and distant and Kara not wanting to overstep. It wasn’t until Kara had no more questions that she was able to pluck up the courage to say anything.

“Were you ever going to call or text? If I hadn’t shown up here for work, would you have ever taken the time to explain to me what you meant last time?”

“I, Kara I−”

“Because for a second there I actually thought we were friends. I thought I meant something to you”

“You do Kara! That’s why I had to let you go! It wasn’t safe for you, not with the trial and the paparazzi and my brother’s goons, I didn’t want to put you through that”

“So you kiss me, tell me you hope I’ll forgive you one day and vanish?”

“It was easier this way. For the both of us. It was better for you, safer, to be away from the craziness that is the Luthor legacy”

“Isn’t that supposed to be my choice? If I stay away or not? Because I’ve spent the last six months agonizing over what it all meant. And sure when I first met you I didn’t know who you were but you trusted me and I walked into this friendship with wide open eyes!” Kara huffed, her face turning a shade of red that Lena used to love causing. Except that she used to love making Kara blush, not make her mad.

“If anything, you walked into this friendship not knowing. Your brother tried killing superman, the last blood family I had left. I knew that. The day after the trial, and the day after that, and the week after that. And I tried to contact you because I knew, _I knew_ you needed someone by your side. Apparently you didn’t need me after all” the blonde stuffed her pen and pad into her bag forcefully and turned to leave

“Wait, Kara, just wait” Lena pleaded with the blonde, she hurried from behind her desk, as much as her heels would allow and wrapped her hand around Kara’s arm.

“I’m sorry I never reached out, I truly am but at the time I thought it was for the best.” Her pleading eyes were a forest green and the moment Kara let herself get lost in them she knew without a doubt that he could never stay upset at the woman before her.

It was a split second decision, but Kara wouldn’t let herself over analyze anything now. She moved slowly, making sure Lena knew exactly what she was about to do, and when her lips were a whisper away from Lena’s, Kara glanced up at pleading eyes and in them she saw everything she needed to know.

The kiss was brief and sweet, something that made it clear they were on the same page, much to Kara’s relief. Lena lent her forehead against Kara’s and breathed a relieved sigh.

“So, related to superman huh? Do you happen to don a red cape, blue suit with a cute red skirt and knee-high boots Miss Danvers?”

“You caught on to that huh? Yeah, surprise?” Kara chuckled awkwardly

“You know, I was right all those months ago, you’re literally otherworldly” Kara’s chin rested against Lena’s palm nuzzling closer, the blonde was inching forward for another kiss when Lena’s office door inched open and Jess walked in.

“Miss Luthor, your three o’clock meeting will be here so−, I’ll uh, come back later” the secretary spun on her heel and headed for the door

“Jess, will you make a note downstairs, Kara Danvers is to be shown in right away whenever possible” Lena smirked at the intense blush spreading across Kara’s face.

“Yes Miss Luthor!” Jess squeaked as she retreated out of the office; whoever this reporter was, Jess did not want to get on Lena’s bad side over. 3 o’clock meeting postponed apparently.

Lena let out a giggle that was most definitely inappropriate for the workplace but for some reason she was on cloud nine.

“So darling, how about lunch? You always used to rave about National City having the best potstickers”

“Are you asking me out on a date Miss Luthor?”

“Why yes I am, miss Danvers.”


End file.
